Prep chicken: For healthiest chicken, poach: Place boneless, skinless chicken breasts in a medium skillet or saucepan. Add lightly salted water (or chicken broth) to cover and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to low and simmer gently until the chicken is cooked through and no longer pink in the middle, 10 to 15 minutes.

Separate biscuits and place each biscuit in a cup of a lightly greased 12-hole muffin pan, pressing dough up sides to edge of cup.

Remove from oven. Place muffin pan on a wire rack and let set for 2-3 minutes. Serve at once.

Some notes:

When I make these again (and I will – for they were delicious!), I won’t use Homestyle Biscuits. I will either use flaky biscuits and divide into sections or I will use puff pastry. The crusts were just thicker than Hubby and I liked.

Think I will also add mushrooms and a little more seasoning.

That said: these pot pies were very very good.

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*I filled the remaining four muffin tins with wheat and white bread, crusts removed, flattened (although these were very good – not as good as the biscuit dough crusts).

Note: rather than making the cake from scratch, you can use a vanilla/yellow box cake mixed with 1 stick melted butter and 2 beaten eggs. I didn’t have regular cream cheese and used cream cheese with pineapple – turned out to be quite tasty! Interesting that the topping makes a ‘crust’ and also ‘seeps’ through the cake layer and thus flavors the bottom of the cake. This is a very tasty cake!

The photo on Facebook did not have a ‘crusty’ top; perhaps I baked a little longer – or maybe my oven was temperamental. At any rate, it is doubtful that it changed the flavor, for this cake was very very good!

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9”x13” baking pan

To make the cake layer from scratch, cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer until light fluffy, about 5 minutes. On medium speed, add the eggs, one at a time, then the sour cream, vanilla and lemon zest, scraping down the bowl as needed. Mix well. Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt and baking soda. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir until smooth. Finish mixing by hand to make certain the batter is well mixed. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared baking pan.

Mix the ingredients for the topping and spread evenly over the top of the batter.

Bake for about 30-35 minutes and let the cake cool before removing from the pan.

Dried cilantro (or fresh) for garnish (I skipped this. I think there is no in-between with cilantro; one either likes it or dislikes it.)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Wash peppers and cut in half, lengthwise. Scrape out seeds and place in baking dish and set aside.

Brown ground beef and drain excess juices. Add meat to large bowl and set aside. Cook rice according to package, using chicken broth instead of water. Add rice to the cooked meat. Drain corn and black beans (rinsed) and add to the rice-beef mixture.

Add salsa and 1 cup of cheese to the mixture. Add seasonings and mix thoroughly. Spoon the mixture into the peppers and place b back into the baking dish. Cover with tinfoil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and top with remaining cheese (as much as you wish!). Sprinkle green onions and cilantro on top and place back into the oven for another 15 minutes.

I just poured the left-over mixture (after filling the peppers) over the top before baking. I also covered with cheese and baked – then, added more cheese for the last 15 minutes. We do love the cheese!

Top with sour cream or more salsa – or Jalapeno peppers if you wish. I thought about topping with avocado (but thought of it too late!).

Enjoy!

I obtained this marvelous recipe on Divalicious Menu posted on Facebook. We really – really – liked this dish!

Spray a 13-by 9-inch Pyrex or ceramic baking dish with vegetable cooking spray. Line pan bottom with half the bread slices. Scatter half the peppers over the bread, then sprinkle with half the cheese and scallions. Pour a couple of cups of the egg mixture over the topped bread. Make another layer with remaining bread, peppers, cheese and scallions. Slowly pour remaining egg mixture over bread. Press on bread to make sure it absorbs milk mixture. Let sit for about 15 minutes before baking. (Can be covered and refrigerated up to 2 days.)

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Bake until custard is just set, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Without adjusting oven rack, turn on broiler; broil until strata is spotty brown and puffy, about 5 minutes longer.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish with non-stick spray (a tip: to avoid getting the counter messy with overspray, open your dishwasher, set the dish on the open door & spray, it will get cleaned up next time you run your dishwasher).

Add butter and onions to a large non-stick skillet, sauté over medium heat until soft, add the garlic on top and stir around for a few minutes. Push the onions and garlic mixture to the side of the pan and add the chicken pieces to the center. Sprinkle chicken with salt & pepper. Cook for 6-8 minutes, moving the chicken around as needed, until the chicken is cooked through.

Remove pan from heat, stir in mushroom soup, sour cream, 1/2 cup of water (or chicken broth) and cheese. Stir until combined – then add the frozen peas. Now mix in the linguine and pour into prepared casserole mix. Top with crushed crackers.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in 350 degree oven.

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We really really liked this dish! Actually made it (for the first time – which I realize is a “no-no”) to take to a church function. Hubby and I ambled to the serving line where this dish was so we could taste it. Of course, if it had been horrible I would have regretted taking it without sampling first. However, it just seemed to be a winner with all of those great ingredients. And it was. Next time, I plan to add chopped red pepper and some diced celery.

Texas

spirituality

spirituality

spirituality
The spiritual life is not a special career, involving abstraction from the world of things. It is a part of every man's life; and until he has realized it, he is not a complete human being, has not entered into possession of all his powers."
~ Evelyn Underhill

we yearn

Richard Foster
We today yearn for prayer and hide from prayer. We are attracted to it and repelled by it. We believe prayer is something we should do, even something we want to do, but it seems like a chasm stands between us and actually praying. We experience the agony of prayer-lessness.